Conveyance construction



Jan. 26, 1954 H. D. FENSKE CONVEYANCE CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 16, 1946 I W w ma p M f U Patented Jan. 26, 1954 CONVEYAN CE CONSTRUCTION Harry D. Fenske, Detroit, Mich., assignor to National Steel Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Application February 16, 1946, Serial No. 648,085

2 Claims.

This invention relates generally to freight carrying conveyances and more particularly to structure for constructing the floor and walls of such conveyances.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my application entitled Car Construction, Serial Number 572,443, filed January 12, 1945, now abandoned.

In the past, in freight conveyances, such as wooden railroad freight cars, it has been the practice to prevent freight from shifting by nailing stop blocks to the floors and walls of the cars. One of the objections to this practice is that it adds greatly to the destruction of wooden floor and walls which, excluding this practice, are subjected to extreme wearing conditions from all kinds of freight. Then again, such freight cars are soon not suitable for carrying such cargoes as loose grain, sand, etc., which would sift through the nail holes and through cracks started by nail holes. Obviously, steel cars have presented a problem insofar as the nailing of stop blocks thereto is concerned. Consequently, it has been proposed to use freight car floors of steel construction having spaced wooden inserts to which to nail the stop blocks. While this is an improvement over the all wooden car, the cars are still not suitably dependable to haul all kinds of freight and the wooden inserts must be periodically replaced which is, of course, objectionable. In addition, such composite floors and walls are expensive to manufacture and build.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide for freight conveyances a new and improved all metallic nailable interior surface structure which will stand hard usage with out need of periodic repair.

Another object of the invention is to provide structure for the abovementioned purpose which is economical to manufacture and construct.

A further object of the invention resides in the provision of interior surface structure which will render a freight conveyance suitable for carrying loose or unpackaged cargoes such as grain, sand, etc., as well as other kinds of freight without danger of such loose material sifting out through nail slots.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a vertical, fragmentary cross-section of a railroad box car embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a horizontal, fragmentary crosssection of the box car of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the box car taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a modified form of the structure of Figure 3.

In Figures 1, 2 and 3, which show a preferred form of the invention, there is shown a metallic railway freight car including a floor i0, side walls II and an end wall I2. An under frame or floor supporting structure includes side sills i3 and an intermediate sill l4 extending longitudinally of the car. These sills may be rigidly connected together by laterally extending diaphragm members l5 which may be welded or be otherwise suitably secured to the sills.

A pair of side angle members I6 seat respectively on the diaphragm members, adjacent their outer ends, extending longitudinally of the car. These angle members I6 present a seating surface and anchoring means for the floor structure [0, along the sides of the car body. The angle members I6 may be welded or may be otherwise suitably secured to the diaphragm members I5. Intermediate the sill member 14 and each of the side sills [3, there is a floor supporting frame member ll, extending longitudinally of the car, the frame members I! being supported respectively on the diaphragm members 5 to which they may be welded. As shown in Figure l, the floor frame members H may be of Z-shape in cross-section having an upper horizontal flange l8 co-planar with the horizontal flanges of the side angle members l6. Carried by and on the upper surface of the intermediate sill H5 are longitudinally extending spacer members is which may be timbers, interposed between the sill and the floor I 0. The side and end walls comprise metallic sheathing or panels 2! which may be welded to the outer surfaces of the sills i3, diaphragm members l5 and to spaced upright reinforcing posts H.

The floor It! comprises a plurality of contiguous structural members extending across the car and supported on the side angles [6, on the intermediate frame members 11 and on the sill supported timbers l9. In order to provide a floor to withstand the hard usage to which it will be subjected in a freight conveyance, such as a box car, the freight engaging plates or panels 22 of the structural members are preferably formed of steel. Each of the structural members is provided with a pair of downwardly extending side reinforcing webs 23 joined to the side edges of panel 22, and extending longitudinally of the panel. Flanges 24 extend laterally from the edges of the side reinforcing webs removed from panel 22 to provide seating surfaces for seating on the angle members l6, intermediate frame members I! and timbers IS. The edges of side reinforcing webs 23 are in a plane normal to the plane of the associated panel with corrugations 25 extending out of this plane. Corrugations 25 in adjacent structural members are of complementary shape and in opposed relation so that when the adjacent structural members are spaced from one another the thickness of a nail, a nailing slot or groove of sinuous configuration is presented between the opposed webs. It will be noted from the drawing that the corrugations do not project out of the planes of their webs a distance substantially greater than the spacing between opposed webs. This feature makes possible the removal and replacement of a damaged structural member from the completed floor without disturbing adjacent structural members. In the interests of manufacturing economy, the structural members of the floor can be formed or rolled from a sheet of steel to provide the corrugated sidereinforcing webs 23 and the flanges 24. The structural members may be rigidly secured to the side angles i5 and to the frame members I? at the flanges by rivets 2B or these parts may be welded together, if desired.

As shown more clearly in Figure 3, the floor surface panels are arranged so that opposed webs 23 of adjacent panels are in spaced relation and so that an inwardly formed corrugation is opposite a complementary outwardly formed corrugation. The spaced opposed webs 23 provide nail receiving slots 2'! and the adjacent complementary corrugations 25 bend and deform nails driven into the slots. In Figure 3, a nail is shown holding a timber 28 to the nailable metallic floor, the timber 28 serving as a stop to prevent certain classes of freight 29 from shifting about in the car. In order that a freight conveyance of the above described construction may also be used to haul such loads as bulk grain, sand and similar unpackaged material without danger of loss thereof through the nailing slots, I provide a filler 30 closing the slots. Any mastic or gummy material may be used as the filler.

Similarly, the interior structure of the side and end walls of the freight car are constructed of metallic structural members 32 of like construction to those used in the floor Ill. These structural members 32 are contiguously arranged preferably so that the nailing grooves33 there-,

between extend vertically, as shown. These structural members 32 may be riveted, welded or be otherwise suitably secured to the exterior wall panels 23.

In the modification of Figure 4, each floor member comprises a pair of spaced frame or channel members 35 and a metallic freight engaging panel or plate 35 connecting the pair of channel members together. Each of the channel members 35 comprises a web 3?, an upper side reinforcing flange 38 and a lower, side reinforcing flange 39. The pairs of channels 35 are arranged with their side reinforcing flanges 38, 39 extending toward each other, the floor plates 36 seating on the upper flanges 38 to which they are preferably welded. In each of the Webs 3! of the pairs of channel members 35 is provided a single corrugation 43, these corrugations being alike in that one faces outwardly and the other faces inwardly in the same relation as the preferred form previously described. The adjacent channels 35 of adjacent panels co-operate to form nail receiving and clinching grooves, the

4 surface plates 36 terminating adjacent their respective channels so that spaced opposed edges of the panels form slots 4| registering with the nailing slots between the channel members 35.

These nailing slots, like those previously described may be filled with a mastic or gummy material 42 to prevent loss of loose material freight through the nailing slots.

In the appended claims, the term floor includes wall within its meaning.

From the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that I have provided a new and improved metallic structural member for use in the construction of nailable and durable floors and walls for freight conveyances. While I have herein described my invention in connection with a freight car, it will be understood that the invention is equally applicable to LCL containers, trucks, ships and cargo planes.

Iclaim:

1. In a freight conveyance of the type in which freight in transit is subject to forces tending to move the freight relative to the conveyance, the

' combination comprising, a conveying supporting structure mounted for movement which sets up the forces and a metallic floor construction carried thereby to which blocking can be nailed for preventing shifting of freight in transit, the

' metallic floor construction including a plurality of long narrow metallic structural members arranged side by side, each structural member including a panel having a freight engaging face directed away from the conveying supporting 1 structure, the freight engaging faces of the plurality of structural members being arranged at a uniform level to form the surface of the floor, a pair of side reinforcing Webs joined to each panel along the side edges thereof and extending laterally from the panel in a direction toward the conveying supporting structure, a flange joined to at least one web on each structural member and extending laterally from said Web along the edge removed from the panel, said flange being in engagement with the conveying supporting structure, means including rigid connection between flanges of the structural members and the conveying supporting structure integrating the metallic floor construction and conveying supporting structure and holding the structural members in side by side relation in the conveyance with the opposed webs of adjacent structural members contiguous to form a slot therebetween, the opposed webs being shaped and spaced to receive snugly therebetween a nail driven into the slot, means acting between the opposed webs for deforming and retaining nails driven into the nailing slot, the faces of the panels and the entrances to the nailing slots being exposed for engaging freight and for receiving nails for blocking the freight, respectively, and a closure means of mastic material closing the entrance to each nailing slot along the length of the nailing slot at substantially the level of the surface of the floor.

2. In a freight conveyance of the type in which freight in transit is subject to forces tending to move the freight relative to the conveyance, the combination comprising, a conveying supporting structure mounted for movement which sets up the forces and a metallic floor construction carried thereby to which blocking can be nailed for preventing shifting of freight in transit, the metallic floor construction including a plurality of long narrow metallic structural members arranged side by side, each structural member inat least one web on each structural member and extending laterally from said web along the edge removed from the panel, said flange being in engagement with the conveying supporting structure, means including rigid connection between flanges of the structural members and the conveying supporting structure integrating the metallic floor construction and conveying supporting structure, and holding the structural members in side by side relation in the conveyance with the opposed webs of adjacent structural members contiguous to form a slot therebetween, the opposed webs being shaped and spaced to receive snugly therebetween a nail driven into the slot, complementary corrugations in the opposed webs extending in the direction of the length of the webs for deforming and retaining nails driven into the nailing slot, the longitudinal edges of each of the opposed webs lying in a plane normal to the surface of the floor with the corrugations in the opposed webs located between the longitudinal edges, the external surfaces of the corrugations extending'out of said planes a distance not substantially greater than the spacing between opposed webs, whereby a structural member can be removed from the construction without disturbing the adjacent structural members,

the faces of the panels and the entrances to the nailing slots being exposed for engaging freight and for receiving nails for blocking the freight, respectively, and a closure means of mastic material closing the entrance to each nailing slot along the length of the nailing slot at substantially the level of the surface of the floor.

HARRY D. FENSKE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 551,258 Brown Dec. 10, 1895 571,884 Pennock Nov. 24, 1896 578,990 Heron Mar. 16, 1897 1,832,759 Bennett Nov. 17, 1931 1,900,541 Buelow et a1. Mar. 7, 1933 2,028,554 Main Jan. 21, 1936 2,074,433 Schlesinger Mar. 23, 1937 2,084,853 Marks June 22, 1937 2,180,502 Bonsall Nov. 21, 1939 2,180,504 Bradfield et a1 Nov. 21, 1939 2,229,547 Bonsall Jan. 21, 1941 2,250,253 Bowen July 22, 1941 2,457,147 Hall Dec. 28, 1948 

